Briton facing 60 years in US prison after hacking into Pentagon

RolandTD20Kdrummer
RolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
edited July 2008 in A Moving Train
Doesn't sound much like malicious hacking to me...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/27/internationalcrime.hacking?gusrc=rss&feed=technologyfull

"These days he earns a living driving a fork-lift truck. It seems a mundane job for a man who between 1999 and 2002 broke into the most secure computer systems in the world from his north London flat. Using a computer language called Perl and a cheap PC, McKinnon linked a number of computer systems to search for US databases that were not protected by a password. 'I could scan 65,000 machines in less than nine minutes,' McKinnon said.

McKinnon unearthed unprotected computer systems operated by the US army, the navy, the Pentagon and Nasa. On every system he hacked, he left messages. 'It was frightening because they had little or no security,' he said. 'I was always leaving messages on the desktop saying, "your security is really crap".' "
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.

http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • bernmodi
    bernmodi Posts: 631
    This guy should get an award because he made it clear that all these smart people in the Pentagon and elsewhere are in fact not a bit smart and reliable.
  • dunkman
    dunkman Posts: 19,646
    the guy is right.. instead of being faced with jail they should employ him to catch pedophiles
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
  • Sludge Factory
    Sludge Factory Posts: 976
    dunkman wrote:
    the guy is right.. instead of being faced with jail they should employ him to catch pedophiles


    Not sure if you are serious or not but I definitely think this guy should be employed by someone implementing his talents. If he goes to jail his abilities will just go to waste and the security of the systems will probably remain weak.
  • EvilToasterElf
    EvilToasterElf Posts: 1,119
    Sludge Factory wrote:
    Not sure if you are serious or not but I definitely think this guy should be employed by someone implementing his talents. If he goes to jail his abilities will just go to waste and the security of the systems will probably remain weak.

    I don't think the government has an unflagging trust in him, mainly due to the fact that he left a message about how American Foreign Policy is state sponsored terrorism and 9/11 is an inside job.

    Or the fact that he wasn't completely harmless, he was trying to download as much top secret information as his 56K modem could muster.

    Usually things like that are stumbling blocks to a government pension.
  • Sludge Factory
    Sludge Factory Posts: 976
    EvilToasterElf wrote:
    I don't think the government has an unflagging trust in him, mainly due to the fact that he left a message about how American Foreign Policy is state sponsored terrorism and 9/11 is an inside job.

    Or the fact that he wasn't completely harmless, he was trying to download as much top secret information as his 56K modem could muster.

    Usually things like that are stumbling blocks to a government pension.


    Good point. 56k modem? People still use those?
  • dunkman
    dunkman Posts: 19,646
    EvilToasterElf wrote:
    I don't think the government has an unflagging trust in him, mainly due to the fact that he left a message about how American Foreign Policy is state sponsored terrorism and 9/11 is an inside job.

    Or the fact that he wasn't completely harmless, he was trying to download as much top secret information as his 56K modem could muster.

    Usually things like that are stumbling blocks to a government pension.


    he's british.... the american foreign policy jibe and the 9/11 inside job statement means he'd be instantly promoted... nowhere did we say he should be given a job in the US government.

    anyhoo.. he could do some good... but if people just think he's an evil computer genius with an opinion then let him rot in jail. :rolleyes:
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.

Categories